Last night - Epic rescue...

[Chris]

Sorry Tony - bent sill? Despite the sliders? Glad the lights worked well. They do give a good flood don't they.

The door mirror, as I have proven before will stick with two part superglue.

Chris

 

[Rob]

Good effort guys Ian are you saying I should retrofit ATRAC to my 80? From what your saying it sounds quite good. How much would it cost?

 

[TonyP]

You know, I said sill but meant roof gutter piece thing. Tree was leaning in towards the car as opposed to away so sliders were no use

 

[Crispin]

...so sliders were no use

Not really, all it means is Chris did not design his sliders well enough. An extra foot on the outriggers would have been ok.

 

[Crispin]

Was it the last one you were going to do? Classic last lane situation that if so

Funny that, a few people asked that question during the evening. If I recall, it was the second or third lane and by no means the last [planned] one.

We had planned on finishing up at a ford we knew would be very full. Maybe this was just a way to protect us from worse

 

[Crispin]

Nice write up. I did not say at the time but I am currenly suffering an injured elbow. That explains some of the faces I may have been making. Not fully sure an evening on a hand winch is what the Dr meant when he said rest it
Ian

You should have said you had a sore elbow. I would have asked Nicky to do it instead
Hopefully there is no damage to it? That would make me just feel worse than I already do.

I forgot to mention, the evening went really bad when Ian mentioned that the new series of Top Gear is starting.

 

[Gav Peter]

the evening went really bad when Ian mentioned that the new series of Top Gear is starting.

Thank goodness for the i-Player eh

 

[AndyCook]

great story and write up
nightmare situation - but thanks for sharing it - very educational!

good to see all the forum members helping with the rescue

and it has convinced me to carry my tirfor in landcruiser when ever i deliberately plan to go offroading, and not just rely on the front winch. I sometimes leave it behind, but you never know....

 

[Crispin]

great story and write up
very educational!

I'll be signing up for one of Greg's recovery courses. There were so many things that I saw and thought "hmm, must remember that"

and it has convinced me to carry my tirfor in landcruiser when ever i deliberately plan to go offroading, and not just rely on the front winch. I sometimes leave it behind, but you never know....

Interesting that. While it was invaluable, I would also say you cannot have enough straps and snatch blocks. The latter for sure. For the cost and weight of them, if you have a winch and enough rope, you could do some fancy work. The same with straps. I am not sure how many straps and chains we had out but they were everywhere. Again, for the price, a tog-bag can hold a lot of cheap equipment which will make all the difference.

 

[warrenpfo]

Crispin

Good to see all worked out in the end. I was keen to ask if you had a winch on yours do you think you would have managed to get yourself out the pickle you ended up in?

 

[Crispin]

I was keen to ask if you had a winch on yours do you think you would have managed to get yourself out the pickle you ended up in?

Honestly? If I did and I did recover myself, it would have been through luck. If you have a winch, sure, life would be easier but you also need to know how to rig it properly. Our first attempt at a straight pull proved that. Blind naivety is a dangerous thing...

 

[TonyP]

I was keen to ask if you had a winch on yours do you think you would have managed to get yourself out the pickle you ended up in?

Honestly? If I did and I did recover myself, it would have been through luck. If you have a winch, sure, life would be easier but you also need to know how to rig it properly. Our first attempt at a straight pull proved that. Blind naivety is a dangerous thing...

Apart from out ignorance/arrogance, the thing that really worked against us was that when we pulled with the winch the shocks compressed into the bank which added load. What helped in the end was Crispin spinning his wheels and then pulling at both ends with the tirfor and the hi-lift jacks.

As Crispin says, I think some time spent with Greg on his recovery courses will be a good thing! Having the tools is one thing, but knowing HOW to use them is key.

 

[warrenpfo]

Well if the recovery course gets off the ground count me in.

One last thought and it might not be a good idea but you never know.

Would a "SOS" thread be an idea that one can post in if ever a similar situation arises in the future.

Perhaps it can be made clear that under no situation is anything to go in the thread unless you are in distress or need assistance as I would never have known anything was wrong unless being the "looser" that I am was not cruising the site looking for new posts or something to reply too.

If it is possible one could subscribe to the thread through choice so that if anyone does post you get an automatic email to alert you to the post and you can then respond if you are able to or choose too.

That way if ever a situation like this happens again it’s not lost in a "SA DVD post" and with the advent of smart phones one can reply ASAP.

Just a thought....

 

[Gary Stockton]

Well done everyone! Crispin, I think for the next secret test you and Tony should include the requirement for an air-drop of a suspension component and engine ECU, just to up the ante a bit

You may feel like poep-hole now but you're a few steps along the learning curve. Got to be good in the long run.

As an aside, I would have asked Tommo to stop at the top of the lane after he showed me his navigational skills on the Lincomb log bridge he could just have easily been casualty #3 (just kidding Tommo - you can recall the Marines / SBS now )

 

[Crispin]

As an aside, I would have asked Tommo to stop at the top of the lane after he showed me his navigational skills on the Lincomb log bridge he could just have easily been casualty #3 (just kidding Tommo - you can recall the Marines / SBS now )

The lane was a doddle. In hind-sight, yes that would be a good idea. But really, the lane was a boring muddy lane. Slippy but simple. Going backwards though it was considerably more slippery.

Another thing learnt, don't go down a lane you know is a dead-end without ensuring you have a turn around point....

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Was the winch rope rubbing on something to make it snap or was it just not a thick enough one? Ideally in that situation you want some backup straps that you keep taking the slack out of so that if the primary recovery fails the truck doesn't slide back down the bank out of control. A front winch with enough rigging would have pulled you out but it would still have been easier to rig a hand winch at the back. I always take my hand winch, it's like a get out of jail card

 

[Crispin]

Was the winch rope rubbing on something to make it snap or was it just not a thick enough one? Ideally in that situation you want some backup straps that you keep taking the slack out of so that if the primary recovery fails the truck doesn't slide back down the bank out of control. A front winch with enough rigging would have pulled you out but it would still have been easier to rig a hand winch at the back. I always take my hand winch, it's like a get out of jail card

The first break, the line was clear of everything. it was through a snatch block and broke midway between the block and hook. The second break was when we were using a large (stupidly large) shackle as a snatch block. Again it broke near there, not on it. The general consensus was that the rope was near end of life anyway. No idea when a plasma rope is old.

As for taking up the slack as you recover, yes. A good point. A simple solution was to double up a strap, stick a long pole or stick through it and wind it up as you slacken. With a long enough pole, you will easily stop it from unwinding if your rope snaps.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Another point I guess is that we should all be able to give proper grid refs to avoid the duplicate Hare Street problem ...

Hind-sight is always 20-20, isn't it??

Some good learning points manifesting here!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

A simple solution was to double up a strap, stick a long pole or stick through it and wind it up as you slacken. With a long enough pole, you will easily stop it from unwinding if your rope snaps.

I know that as a spanish windlass and AFAIK most recovery instructors won't demonstrate it as it can be very dangerous, much more dangerous than a hi-lift even. I would never use one the way you describe as you have no idea what will happen if the primary rope snaps i.e. sudden loading change on your windlass, the energy transfered is massive. I'd rather use a chainsaw one handed at least it has some built in safety devices!

 

[Crispin]

[quote="Crispin":315pge4h]A simple solution was to double up a strap, stick a long pole or stick through it and wind it up as you slacken. With a long enough pole, you will easily stop it from unwinding if your rope snaps.

I know that as a spanish windlass and AFAIK most recovery instructors won't demonstrate it as it can be very dangerous, much more dangerous than a hi-lift even. I would never use one the way you describe as you have no idea what will happen if the primary rope snaps i.e. sudden loading change on your windlass, the energy transfered is massive. I'd rather use a chainsaw one handed at least it has some built in safety devices![/quote:315pge4h]

True there is a lot of energy stored in there but do you think it could run away? We used a spade as a pole which gives a lot of mechanical advantage. When let go, the spade was eager to rotate by itself but could easily be held in place by a child. If your primary rope snaps and your secondary is taught, you should be ok. Granted, if you let it run away it would amputate your arm so on that basis, people might think it's a bad idea to promote it...

A chain with one of these hooks would be best. Easy to shorten...